Curse of the Sand Man
by sw4n-l4ke
Summary: [AU] Brutal murders involving sand have been relentless in the suburbs of the city of Konoha. What does this have to do with Sakura, a new pathologist in Konoha Medical Research Centre? Who is the murderer? [GaaXSaku] [SasuXSaku]
1. Morning and Dream

I know that this is no excuse but English is not my native language, and this is my first attempt at fan fiction so…please go easy on me. :)

**Curse of the Sand Man**

_Prologue_

_I ran and ran, trying to get away from the evil boy. I hated him. He was always there, staring at me, watching me with those creepy, black-rimmed eyes of his. He loved to __touch__ me, why wouldn't he let me alone?! How dare he hit Sasuke-kun! "I hate him!" was all that kept echoing inside my head, my heart was pounding and I started to cry. My eyes widened as something wrapped around my left leg, something grainy. Before my mind could register what happened, my body had fallen to the ground below me as someone landed on me, both legs straddled me. It was a boy…him…_

_"No…Sasuke-kun, help me…" Soft shaky words escaped my mouth as I reluctantly stared into the eyes of my captor. He stared back…intensely, ready to pierce my very soul. _

_"Sakura…Sakura…" The boy murmured as he reached down to stroke my hair, and then lowered his other hand to caress my cheek. I could only stared at him wide-eyed. He murmured something else that I was unable to hear clearly, then lowered his head and softly brushed his lips against… (gasp) mine…!!!_

_"No…GET AWAY FROM ME! I HATE YOU, __YOU__ CREEP!!!" The boy immediately jerked his head back. My fear and disgust for the boy overwhelmed me in a matter of seconds. Horrified, I could hear myself yelling, trying my best to struggle free out of his reach. He was stunned, stunned by my words, I could see it. But before I could do anything, the boy silently stood up, ran away, and disappeared into the thick fog, left me lying on the ground. I looked down and noticed the substance that wrapped around my ankle had disappeared as well. Still shocked and trying to calm myself down, I stared blankly at the direction the boy had disappeared for God-only-knows how long before I noticed a silhouette approaching me._

_"Sa-Sasuke-kun…Sasuke-kun!!!" I was extremely relieved to see the raven-haired boy. _

_"Sakura…Are you okay…? Where is the damn kid?" he kneeled beside me. He looked messed up, bruises across his beautiful face, and blood dripped from his nose. He had fought with the boy…to protect me…although he lost, I was more than happy to find out that Sasuke cared about me, and would do anything to protect me. A trait that I probably would have never discovered if not for this little incident. _

_"Oh no…you're bleeding…Sasuke-kun…" I reached out my hand to touch his face, but instead of skin, all my fingers could feel was…air…? _

_Chapter 1: Morning and Dream  
_

I'm Haruno Sakura, 22 years old. Today is my first day on the job as a pathologist for East Konoha Clinical Pathology & Medical Research Centre. Though, as always, my morning had never been pleasant lately. I was having that dream again ... an unpleasant dream should I say, though I wouldn't go so far as to call ita nightmare. It has been two weeks in a row I have had the same dream and I'm very annoyed at this fact since that incident was what…? 10 years ago. Why the memory I had been trying my best to forget kept coming back to haunt me was beyond my comprehension. That kid… I can't even remember his name, wait… did I even know his name? No…I didn't. It had always been "that kid", "the red head", "that maniacal boy", "that creep", "that sand freak", "the tattoo boy"…none of which were his name because we never bothered to find out. Because he was simply _too_ weird, aloof…sometimes too brutal for us "normal" kids to handle, and _that_ boy wasn't normal at all, he was insane…that much I could tell, since I was the first to experience it firsthand.

Laying on my bed as I stare at the ceiling, I let my mind wanders some more "…but _he_ was a cute boy though…and…my first kiss…" I paused. Somehow I've forgotten why I thought the boy was so creepy, as far as I remember, he really had not done anything harmful to me to warrant my hate, except that he beat up the person I loved and stole my first kiss...wait…oh yea, I think those were good enough reasons for a twelve year-old girl, or…was there more…? I can't remember it and rolled my eyes. The fear and disgust I had for the boy had vanished as the time passed and maturity kicked in, though the image of him being unpleasant was already engraved deeply on my mind it's hard to think of him otherwise. Besides, I never had the chance to get to know him better or more like I didn't want to. That incident in my dream was the last time I saw him. I wonder where he could be now?

Sighing slightly, I pushed the memory of the boy aside and get up, sitting on the edge of the bed while eyeing the alarm clock besides the bed. 6.15 AM. There's still plenty of time to get ready. I stretched lazily before heading to the bathroom. Stepping out of the bathroom half an hour later, I quickly put on my clothes. Looking at the clock again, I realized Sasuke will be here in 30 minutes to pick me up. I can't help but smile at the realization. Speaking of which, have I mentioned that I'm now dating Sasuke, my first love, my childhood hero? To think that I have my dream man by my side, got the job of my dream… I'm practically living through my dream right now –except that I have yet to have a beautiful apartment of my own– and I'm very grateful for it.

A sudden happiness surged inside me. Smiling from ear to ear, I hummed my way to the kitchen, made a quick breakfast and turned on the TV for morning news. To my dismay, the morning news was all about the recent series of brutal murders started 2 weeks ago involving …sand. Though it is known fact that the same type of murder had once happened 5 years ago, but no trace of the murderer could be found. It wasn't until 2 weeks ago that the assumed same murderer had grown relentless in this city, Konoha.

"2 weeks ago…and…sand…" I thought, "…what a coincidence." Feeling stupid, I continued with my thought "That couldn't be _him_…what am I thinking?!" Hesitantly letting out a slight chuckle, I turned my attention back to the TV.

"…bodies were found in sickly decapitated states buried inside huge piles of sand. Warning has been made by Konoha Metropolitan Police Department for all Konoha citizens to be extra careful…especially the residents of the suburbs area of the city." The reporter continued.

"So…that would include me…" I whispered, a sudden nervousness creeped up on me. Suddenly the door bell rang. I got up quickly, turned off the TV and hurried to the door…but feeling unsafe, I paused for a while until I heard…

"Sakura!" I heard Sasuke's voice outside the door calling for me. Letting out a sigh of relieve I replied…

"I'm coming!" I opened the door with wide smile plestered on my face. There, leaning against the wall next to the door was Sasuke, arms crossed, staring at me, half smiling.

_To be continued._


	2. First Day on the Job

I've decided to put a title for each chapter. It helps to keep me on track with the story I've planned and not wander away.

Ok so…7 reviews! laughs Thanks to you guys who reviewed, now onto chapter 2.

_Chapter 2: First Day on the Job_

_"I'm coming!" I opened the door with wide smile plestered on my face. There, leaning against the wall next to the door was Sasuke, arms crossed, staring at me, half smiling.  
_

I felt a squeal coming from inside me, that's my stupid inner self just to let you know, she appears often when I'm either excited or mad…my troublesome self should I say.

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun!", I said happily throwing him the sweetest smile I could afford and before I could stop myself, I have spontaneously wrapped my arms around his neck and embraced him tightly.

He frowned a little and replied, "…let go, we don't have time to play around." With that, it was my turn to frown. _**"There, you see that?! We have only been together for a month and we hadn't seen each other for a week because he had been busy, but there he goes again! What a walking iceberg!"**_ my inner self shrieked, then continued with a smirk _**"…but a very **__**hot**__** iceberg nonetheless".**_ Rolling my eyes still to my inner self, oh yes, he's _always_ like that, don't ever count on Sasuke to be warm towards people, well, maybe once in a blue moon, but other than that, never! If I couldn't put up with this particular facet of his, our relationship most likely wouldn't even have lasted more than a week.

Letting out a loud sigh, I retracted my arms from around his neck. "Ok, ok…why are you always like this…?" I kind of mumbled to myself, but apparently he heard it and said "Like what?", indifferent look on his face. I looked at him for a few seconds before shaking my head, "…nevermind…I'll go get my stuffs. Wait for me."

I rushed back to my room and grabbed all I needed before stepping out of my apartment door and locked it behind. I noticed that Sasuke was already at the end of the hallway waiting for me. _"Great…" _I thought _"there goes my romantic morning…" _

A while later on the parking lot…a one-sided argument was happening, which means I was the only one talking with Sasuke remained uninterested, walking with hands inside the pockets.

"What's wrong with showing _your_ girlfriend a little affection in the morning?" I started, still pouting and walked faster so as to keep up with his pace.

I waited for him to say something back, but no answer as he kept on walking, eyes straight forward. Just when I was about to protest... one of his hands slowly slid out of his pocket and patted me on the back.

"Sakura……grow up."

I stopped and looked at him sideways, an amused smirk on his face. Both my eyebrows raised out of the sight…"_Sasuke being playful? That's unheard of!"_. I took that as a good sign and smiled. Somehow Sasuke always has this affect on me, he might be cold yes, but in the end he often made up for it with only a simple gesture and managed to put a smile back on my face…though sometimes I had to convince myself that he loves me as much as I love him. Oh well, it's not like I can have everything all at once, right?

We walked in silence afterwards. In a minute we finally reached the car. Eventhough I lived here, I didn't realize this apartment had a parking lot so big, it sure took us a while to walk to the car. Well, I don't drive, that's why…**"**_**wrong, you don't have a car, that's why"**__…_I glared at my inner self.

"This morning doesn't seem so bright, does it?" His voice broke the silence. _Nani? What does he mean? _I looked at him as he walked around the car to my side of the passenger seat. Before I could say anything in return, he's already inches in front of me, pinned me against the car's front door and in a blink of an eye, his lips was already pressed against mine…I was surprised but it didn't take long for me to react and return his kiss. Thankfully, there were only us in the parking lot.

We stopped for air after a while as I put both my hands on his cheeks and stared at him with a look of concern on my face "Sasuke-kun, what did you mean by 'not so bright'?"

"You saw the morning news, didn't you?" He pulled away and walked back to the driver side of the car getting inside. I followed and quickly got inside the car. From the look on his face, something was bothering him. I knew, that kiss was meant to make himself feel better, he had done that several times before. I noticed his face completely stern as he drove the car out of the parking lot and to the main street.

"Yes, I watched the morning news. What about it…? Something bothering you?" He didn't answer. Realizing that he's not in the mood to talk, I turned my attention to the scenery passing outside the window. Konoha really is a beautiful city, too bad…_someone_ just have to spoil it.

30 minutes of driving, we arrived at a large facility, completely confined from other buildings surrounded with high walls and 3 main buildings inside. The Pathology Lab where I worked at was in the right wing. This is one of the largest and the most modern buildings in Konoha. Honestly, I was still in awe, never had I imagined to even manage to get a job here…and for someone new like me, it paid very well too.

I got out of the car and as I parted with Sasuke, "This is your first day right? Good luck! I'll come and pick you up at 5." I nodded and smiled, then kissed him on the cheek, "Bye………ano, Sasuke-kun, whatever it is that's bothering you, don't think about it too much…and be careful driving." I grabbed his arm with more pressure to tell him that I mean it. He looked at me and then nodded, "I know, bye." With that short reply, he got in the car and drove away.

That left me outside the building still waving my hand. Finally I turned around and walked inside as I showed my pass to the guards. Inside the main hall, I was greeted by the receptionist who was telling me to wait for the supervisor. I looked around, _"this is HUGE for a lab, can't believe this side of the building is only used to handle researches of diseases and dead bodies…" _

"Ohayo, you're Haruno Sakura right? I'm Shizune, your supervisor here." A voice startled me. "Oh, ohayo gozaimasu! Yes I am, nice to meet you Shizune-sama. Call me Sakura."

"And call me Shizune." She replied. The woman looked like she's around 30-ish, with short dark hair. She's friendly, very talkative and a lil' clumsy…I liked her already. We talk for a while before she gestured for me to follow her "C'mon, I'll take you to your division to meet your new co-workers."

As we walked down one of the halls, Shizune asked in a teasing tone, "What is a lovely young lady like you doing in this department? There are another girl just like you here. Honestly you ladies are the last type I would expect to apply for a job here…" She laughed. "You know what…all the guys are going to be so very please!" She teased again. I could only blush and replied giving her a totally honest answer "Well, it's because my boyfriend's a criminal investigator…so I thought applying here might allow me to somehow help him with his job since I heard this facility had aided the police department a lot in the past, besides…not to sound arrogant, I think I'm good at handling surgery."

"I know you're good, I saw your training report. You'll be a useful addition to our team." Shizune replied with a smile then continued "…too bad you've got a boyfriend though. Do you know how many broken hearts you would generate with that statement alone?" I smiled uncomfortably over the small talk. **"**_**You know you love to hear that…**_**"** "Oh shut up!" I hissed quietly. "What?" Shizune looked at me confused. "Oh nothing…I'm just talking to myself." I replied, with a fake laugh.

After several turns, we arrived at somekind of corridor with metal double-doors with small card-reader mechanism on each side. _"This looks more like a secret advanced government facility than a regular lab. It is surprisingly clean too…and not smelly." _I thought to myself as Shizune pointed to the door on the right "That's our autopsy room. Since our division is to aid the police, it's reserved for investigation purpose only. Those who were killed instead of those who died of disease were brought here…including those from this morning, we've had our hands full with handling all these victims lately. By the way, you've heard about what happened this morning right?" She asked with a serious tone.

I nodded "Yes…" She continued "…that was the 7th time in 2 weeks, and this time 2 huge muscular men were killed in a single blow." Shizune now sounds a little frustated. My eyes widened, it took me a while to digest what she just said "ONE single blow?! What is he? Super human?!" Shizune nodded and then slapped my shoulder, "I'm not trying to scare you, let's just leave this for some other time. Just forget about the autopsy room, for now that area is not your concern. It's only for seniors anyway." She then guided me to the door to the left, "Now here will be where you work from now on, and let me introduce you to your colleagues." She swiped her card to the control panel and we both stepped in.

Inside, a blonde girl with ponytail and 3 other guys were completely absorbed in their works in front of the microscopes examining…_things_. "Ok, children." Shizune clapped her hands to get their attention. All of them looked up immediately almost at the same time. A guy with strange white eyes grumbled a little "We're not your children." I giggled at the remark. Shizune didn't seem to hear it though as she continued introducing me "This here is Haruno Sakura, she will be with us in this devision starting today." Shizune said, her face all too happy. Just when I was about to say something, a man with bowl cut and very thick eyebrows wearing green under his medical robe rushed forward and in a blink of an eye already holding my hand in his, "I'm Lee, nice to meet you!" a flash coming from his teeth.

Still dumbfounded, I blinked "N-nice to meet you too…" Everybody except Lee sweat-dropped. Shizune interrupted the all too excited man, "Ok, with Lee out of the way, over there is Hyuuga Neji" She pointed towards the the white eyed guy. "And this is Yamanaka Ino." The blonde girl smiled and nodded. I did the same. "And that is…" Shizune's words were cut off by the silver-haired guy with some kind of mask covering the lower half of his face "Yo! I'm Hatake Kakashi. Senior here, so if you need anything, just ask me." I could tell he's smiling under that weird mask of his.

The introduction went smoothly, I felt lucky to have these cool and interesting people in my division. As I was lost in my thought, Shizune said again "So you guys treat her well, and don't forget to show her around. I'll be at Tsunade-sama's office to discuss something. So ja!" As Shizune disappeared behind the door, everybody seemed to abandon their work for a while and surrounded me with questions and comments.

This being my first day, I didn't get to work a lot, only doing some examining and reports here and there. Ino and I quickly got close, as we are the only females and we shared a lot of similarities. She along with Lee happily showed me around the facility as we exchanged stories and experiences. This building consisted of 7 floors. There were 2 cafetarias, a bunch of halls and labs other than the usual autopsy rooms and morgues, cliniques, workers' rooms…in one word, this place is HUGE. Anyway, although we have our cafetarias, we are also allowed to go out for lunch during lunch time since some workers often lost their appetites in a place like this.

Hours later at 4:55 PM, we were all ready to go home except Kakashi who still had night shift. Before going out of the room, Ino took her time to tease him a little in a fake sexy voice "Oh, the privilege of a senior…want some help?" We laughed and rushed out as fast as we could as we saw veins popped out on the usually calm man's forehead and slammed the door behind before he could do anything.

Still laughing, as we fastened our pace to the entrance area, Ino asked "Say Sakura, we are all going to see a play tomorrow night…" Lee cut her off mid sentence, "We didn't want to, but Ino insisted…ack!" Ino's fist landed on his head, "Shut up!" she faced me again with smile "So Sakura…wanna come with us?" I immediately realized what play she's talking about, suddenly interested I replied in an excited voice "I know what play you're talking about!! The Phantom of the Opera right?!". Ino replied with the same excited tone "Right on girl, you're pretty quick!" I giggled "It's popular so of course I know. Some of my girl friends went to see it 2 days ago, they asked me but I was out of town to visit my parents so…well…they wouldn't stop talking about how great it was, especially about a certain actor…" I laughed but then stopped, noticing a slight tint of pink on Ino's cheeks "Ah Ino, don't say you too…?"

"That actor is the reason why Ino insisted to go see it the third time." Neji suddenly talked, emphasizing on the word 'third'. "Neji! Shhhh..!!" Ino freaked but too late.

Trying to suppress the giggle tickling my throat "Third times?! That's too much…what about him that make you guys so crazy about?!" I exclaimed with a laughter afterwards. Lee and Neji nodded in agreement. "Hn! You guys will never understand, you haven't even seen him act. He's the most gorgeous man I've ever seen! So stop talking like you know what you're talking about!" Ino now mad, facing the other way with arms crossed in front of the chest then peeked and glanced at me from behind the shoulder "Sakura, so are you going or not?!" her tone sounded impatient.

I stopped mid-laugh before answering, "Believe me, I would LOVE to, but I'll need to ask my boyfriend first whether he wants to go with us or not. We haven't been together much this whole week so…"

"You have a boyfriend?! Why didn't you tell me?!!" Ino exclaimed loudly, almost yelling. People started looking at her.

"Noooo…" Lee followed, his voice sounded squeaky and discouraged.

"That's not surprising, considering how beauti…" Neji said in his usual calm tone then stopped abruptly realizing what he was about to say. Face red like tomato.

Before I could open my mouth to say something, my cellphone rang. I quickly reached into my bag for it, "Moshi moshi…Sasuke-kun…ok, I'll be right there in a minute." The conversation ended and I looked up at my 3 fellow workers, whose eyes stared at me curiously. "I'm sorry guys, but my boyfriend's already here to pick me up. Ino, I'll call you! Bye guys." I waved at them then hurried to the entrance and to the wide area outside the building and out of the gate. I said a quick 'hi' to Sasuke before getting in the car. As I closed the door, my eyes caught the sight of Ino and Lee rushing towards the gate, Neji followed hesitantly and unhurriedly from behind, eyes fixed in my direction. I giggled _"Maybe they're curious to see Sasuke-kun…I'll have to introduce him properly to them some other time."_ I smiled to myself.

As the car rolled on the street, I was being very talkative telling him all my first day experience and new friends. Sasuke stayed silent and nodded a few times with occational "hn" in between to show that he was listening. I decided to tell him about the play tomorrow night when we were getting close to my apartment.

"Sasuke-kun…ano…my co-workers have asked me to go with them to a play tomorrow night. You know the Phantom of the Opera? I really want to see it so…I'm wondering, do you want to come with us…I mean, with me?" I asked, cautiously.

He stared at me for while before turning his attention back to the road and replied "I can't. I'll have an overtime tomorrow. The Sand Man's case is getting worse you know."

There was silence afterwards.

"I see, then…" Didn't bother to finish what I was going to say, I looked away, to hide my disappointment.

The car entered the parking lot of my apartment not long after. We stopped and as the buzzing sound of the machine died down, we sat there in silence.

"I'll allow you to go if you do what I say." Sasuke's voice broke the silence. I turned to look at him "What?" I noticed the smirk on his face. He grabbed my wrist and gestured for me to sit on his lap. I did as he said.

"So, I'm here. What do you want me to do now?" I whispered near his ear as I straddled his hips with my arms around his neck. I blushed with anticipation of what's coming next, somehow I knew what he was about to say.

"Make love to me, now." He whispered back. Eyes filled with lust. I knew he would say that and I felt the heat creeped up on my face.

But then my inner self kicked in **"**_**Don't give him what he wants so easily, you whore! It's not because of us, you know clearly, this is his way to free himself from stress. Completely selfish! We will go wherever we want to…whether he likes it or not. Besides, he had been cold this whole day, and many days before. He has no right.**_**"** Those words made me paused, and I felt my temper started to rise. "_I'll give him half of it then…"   
_

2 hours later…

I'm now sitting on my bed, still blushing at what had just happened in the car. We made out…well, not what you think but made out nonetheless…

Sasuke was pretty satisfied I guess and he had given me the 'go ahead' for tomorrow, as he drove away, back to his office. He had said he still had piles of reports needed to be done.

Sighing loudly I got up, reached for the phone and searched for Ino's phone number. I dialled her afterwards, after three tones, someone answered.

"Moshi moshi…" it's Ino's voice.

"Moshi moshi, Ino? It's me Sakura. Good news, I'm going with you guys tomorrow." I said happily without wasting any time.

"That's great! Will you bring your boyfriend along? I saw him! You've got yourself a hottie!" Ino responded with excited tone.

"Why thank you! I'm flattered, but unfortunately…he'll be busy tomorrow. So no, he's not going with us." Was my respond, a little sad.

Ino replied, trying to cheer me up "Aww…c'mon, cheer up! We'll have a fun time tomorrow, trust me when I say it'll be amazing! Besides, my love will be there to make everything better!"

"Your love?! Oh my God, that's so corny…! Wait, are you saying…"

"Who else? The man who plays the phantom himself of course. He's amazing! You just have to see him for yourself. He can control sand and…"

"What did you just say?!"

"What…umm…control sand…? Oh…I meant since it's a play, I believe it's just some kind of special FX but it looked extremely real, he even flew people with it. Maybe he's a magician…but who knows."

I gulped at her answer. I don't know if this's a bad feeling or not but something inside me began to stir… "…Ino, the phantom…he doesn't happen to have red hair, does he?"

"What? Of course he does…how do you know?"

"And…an 'ai' tattoo on his left forehead?"

"Ok…Sakura, that's too good for a guess. Care to explain? You said you haven't seen the play…"

"Oh…I…I just…bumped into a person near the theater just like him, he was showing some kind of sand magic to some kids…" I lied.

"What?! YOU bumped into him?! I (_–and a whole bunch of fangirls–) _had waited for him almost everyday outside the theater to no avail and YOU of all people, bumped into him?!! No fair!" Ino shrieked.

"Hey…calm down…you can always hunt him down backstage you know?" I said whatever crossed my mind without even thinking.

"Oh my god, that's a good idea! We'll sneak in and…"

I stopped listening…I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I was filled with emotions, strange emotions, I was happy, sad, scared, anxious, curious, eager…all at once. It's him again, after 10 years…_but to know that he's doing well, to know he's in the same city, why am I__happy? I really shouldn't. I barely even know him…he must have forgotten about me anyway. _

Ino's voice snapped me back into reality "hey…anone! hellooo…woman…are you listening?"

"huh? Uh…gomen…"

"What do you mean 'gomen'??? Neji is the one who drive, so he'll pick up all of us tomorrow at 7. Be ready ok! The show will start at 8PM."

"Ok! I'll be waiting…"

With that, we said our goodbyes and hung up. A lot was going on in my head as I sat silently on my bed for a long time before drifting off.

_"Tomorrow………" _

_To be continued… Chapter 3: The Phantom of the Opera._

_I'm sorry for the simple English or wrong/shallow choice of words, this is the best I can do currently with my very limited vocabulary. Hope whoever read this can still find some kind of enjoyment out of it._


	3. Sabaku no Gaara

Finally, the third chapter…woo!! There's a slight change with the order of the chapter. I'm sorry but "The Phantom of the Opera" has been moved to chapter 4. It took me a while to write this for 2 reasons, one because I had been busy, and two because believe it or not, I've never watched Phantom of the Opera before so I had to do research first …it's not much of a research really, just a quick reading of the synopsis and some lines :p I also had a really hard time writing this since what I wanted to write didn't come out very well in English :(

And finally, to you who liked previous chapters and said so, thank you thank you thank you!!! I hope this chapter won't disappoint! This one is long, so don't say I didn't warn you. :)

_Chapter 3: Sabaku no Gaara_

I woke up the next morning, with a horrible feeling clenching my chest. Sweat covered my skin all over. My hair was damp and a mess. I had a dream again, but unlike the many nights before, something different happened. The words "I hate you" no longer came from me…

But…

I closed my eyes as I recalled the dream again…

_I whimpered and my eyes widened in horror as the boy's face drew closer. I could hear him growling near my ears. "I hate you…I hate ALL of you…!!" his face grimaced with contempt as he said so._

That, of course wasn't what really happened in the past, but it still bothered me. As I sat completely still on the bed, those words kept echoing in my head, repeating themselves again and again, torturing me. It didn't help that the dream felt extremely real, even as I sat here completely awake, I could still 'feel' his weight on me, his breath on my face, his lips against mine, and him…snarling into my ear before pulling away…

"I hate you…" I muttered the words again. Three simple words, yet extreme meaning. I sure didn't know how truly painful it was to be on the receiving end of those words until I was put in the very situation. I couldn't believe it took me 22 years to learn my lesson and through a dream no less.

I placed both my hands on my chest as if to comfort it and drew a deep breath.

_He must had felt horrible too, just like this_.

I thought as my grasp slowly tightened on my chest. A feeling of guilt consumed me.

"Why this dream? Why today of all times…just when I am about to go see you?" I muttered quietly.

_Are you going to really hate me for that? I suppose so… Although, why you kissed me…was a mystery for me, even till now…it couldn't be out of love, right?_

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. _Love?_ _Stupid Sakura…that shouldn't even be called into question. Whatever it was that drove him to do that, it wasn't love. I am absolutely certain of that…_

**O really? **

_What do you mean 'o really'?! Of course I am!!_

My inner self rolled her eyes in response, but remained quite.

Everyone knew he was a lunatic back then…and we all were afraid of him for that, but that still didn't give me – and all of us – the right to treat him like shit. He was a person too, a human being with feelings just like me. How could I be so cruel and insensitive? The ignorance of youth I supposed. All I ever experienced in my past was a happy life as a normal girl. What did I know about other people's pain and suffering when I had never experienced one as bad?

Accusing myself still, I got up from bed and walked towards the balcony on the right side of my bedroom. I lived on the 7th floor and the balcony was my favorite place in my apartment. I always found myself standing there, staring out into the beautiful view of Konoha during those sad and stressful time…you know, to make myself feel better. It always worked wonderfully.

I glanced at the clock. It was 8 AM and the sunlight was hardly visible outside. Shifting the curtain to one side, I stared out through the glass sliding door that led to the balcony. It was raining. The morning sky was cloudy and dark, and the repeated sound of the falling rain dripping against the glass only added to the gloomy and depressing atmosphere I've felt since I woke up. I shook my head and took another deep breath, decided to leave the dream alone.

It was Saturday and I was relieved I didn't have to go to work especially at that kind of weather, thus I had all the time to loiter around in my room for an entire morning and afternoon. Not that I planned to do so.

As I walked out of my room, passing a small wooden cabinet I used to display personal and family photographs, my unfocused eyes halted at a certain old photograph of me and Sasuke-kun. My eyes saddened.

How I wished I could go to Sasuke-kun's place or had him coming over, but alas…luck wasn't in my favor. Why was it that Sasuke-kun had to be so strict and hard-working? I somehow felt like, even with the two of us being together like this, it still didn't improve our relationship to a satisfying degree as I would have liked, at least emotionally. He was still – more often than not – cold and distant. I thought if we met and talk often, if I became his girlfriend, I could have shortened the distance considerably, but I was wrong. There was always something dark inside him that I couldn't pinpoint what, something that he kept hidden from me and everyone, something that built a wall between us. We might be close physically and happy on the outside, but deep down inside…I knew we were not. Unlike a normal happy couple, our emotions were – in one word – disconnected from each other. That was a painful truth that I didn't want others to find out and one thing that I wished we both could work out in time.

I sighed and scanned the other photographs briefly when a thought struck me. That photograph of me and Sasuke-kun was from 10 years ago and we took a lot of photos back then. Naruto, one of our childhood friends loved photography, and he carried around a camera everywhere he went, so that should explain the amount of childhood photographs I had.

My heart pounded with anticipation as I hurriedly plopped down on the carpeted floor and started searching the drawers for my old photo albums. Once I had it in my hands, I flipped the pages impatiently until I came across a photograph that caught my eyes in an instant.

_As I thought…he was there…!! _

My heart almost skipped a beat. It was a photograph of me and my classmates celebrating our victory in the junior gymnastic tournament at school. There, outside the yard, with his hands grabbing the chain-link fence in the far background was the red haired boy, watching us. I couldn't make out how his expression looked like as it was too far away and the shadow of the school building fell upon half of his face. Decided that there should be more, I put it aside and continued looking for more.

As I set aside the last photograph, I found out that there were 9 in total and I was amazed how I never noticed this before. I sprang to my feet and brought all the newfound photos to my desk for further observation.

As I sat there, the first thing that I noticed was how the boy didn't have any friend. There was no one around him. He looked so…lonely and neglected… It wasn't a problem for me back then, I didn't even notice it or care about him…but this time, the way it was captured in the photograph broke my heart, I couldn't help but felt sorry for him.

**Is it just me or was he looking at us in all of the photos?**

_Not just you._

**By us, I meant ****you****, Sakura. Not Sasuke, not Naruto, not anyone else but you.**

_Now is not the time for your je… _

My thought stopped instantly as I realized that what my inner-self said was true. My eyes wildly scanned the photos and widened in surprise.

**We had a stalker. A little creepy, no?**

_I can't believe I never noticed this before. _I shook my head nervously.

**What I can't believe is the fact that we are going to watch ****our stalker**** acts in a play.**

_Stop it! You're creeping me out!_

**I was saying the truth!**

_But really… why me, of all people?_

My inner self chuckled wickedly. **I know why, we must be too hot and beautiful for his virgin eyes that he wanted to…**

_Oh please…would you stop? I was 12 years old and I definitely wasn't hot back then._

**Well, if you don't think so, explain the kiss then.**

_I…!!! How would I know?! _

**See? We were special for him. Let's just hope that it's not 'special' in a bad way.**

I sighed in defeat. _I know what you mean._

As I began to gather the photos and store them away, I looked down at them again and noticed another thing that had escaped my observation earlier. The sand had trailed and followed him everywhere. It was as if his body itself was made of sand, leaving sandy foot-prints behind wherever he went.

The images of the past started to flood my mind. I recalled his fight with Sasuke. I recalled how he commanded the sand like commanding parts of his body. How Sasuke got thrown to the tree trunk so easily.

Monster…

…that was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw his power. I could see the look of horror in everyone's face who saw that with his/her own eyes. That kid had never lost in a fight. I had never witnessed a human much less a boy like him before. Where that sand came from or where he came from or who his parents were, nobody knew…and nobody dared to find out.

I was finally reminded again of how creepy and scary the sand boy could be. Especially when he flipped out…yes, he got angry easily. I didn't know if he hated us or not since he was extremely unpredictable. One day he would just hang around and quietly watched us. Another day, he would forget about our existences and either constantly talked to himself or played around with his sand. The next day, he would threatened and picked fight with the other boys though he never badly injured people. Still, despite not being welcomed by most of the kids, he came to our neighborhood often for reasons unknown to me.

_Could it be possible that he wanted to make friends but didn't know how? _

**Or maybe he just came to see you.**

_Stop it! It was nothing like that. _

**Do you just conveniently forget about the way he looked at you in those photos?**

_That still doesn't prove anything. I never know what his intentions were…_

**But you can't deny the fact that he was looking at you and not the others. And once again…the kiss! Helloo…**

_Whatever, all I know is he would certainly hate me after what I said to him. _

**Don't be so sure, it could be the opposite…heh heh…**

_Stop daydreaming please._

**Sakura, just look at him! You have to admit he was cute –of course you dumb girl, I don't mean that twisted face of his-! Can you imagine how much he would have grown in 10 years? ****Remember what Ino said? He must be VERY HOT now! …and less creepy too. I wouldn't mind him stealing a kiss again! **My inner self expressed her thought shamelessly.

_No silly. I can't believe you are part of me!!! I have Sasuke-kun!! How could you even say…_

**Alright alright, instead of yelling, look at the clock. I'm hungry! **My inner self cut me off before I had the chance to finish my sentence.

_Oh God…_

Slapping my head, I realized I hadn't even bathed and brushed my teeth.

_How could I even call myself a true lady when I forgot doing things as crucial as cleaning myself? Dammit! _

**Ano…Sakura, a true lady doesn't swear…**

_Aww really…? Well, kiss my ass!_

With that, I ran to the bathroom and came out in time record manner. While quickly making my way to the kitchen for breakfast, I switched on the TV as usual. Leaving it on while preparing something to eat. Apparently the morning news had ended. Shaking my head in irritation, I put down the coffee I was sipping at the moment and went to the front door to get the newspaper. Scanning the headlines quickly, a crease forming inbetween my eyebrows, _no murder? Good. I sure would have thought something bad would happen under this kind of weather…"_

My eyes glanced out the window, I had thought about grocery shopping in the morning, but the bad weather forced me otherwise. I had no other choice but to stay home until Neji-san and the gang pick me up later this evening. But then, maybe not just because of the weather…but also for my own safety, especially with me being alone and a psycho killer roaming freely in the city.

A sudden feeling of loneliness hit me then. I was alone…and Sasuke-kun as usual, never here when I needed his company…not even a phone call I had thought about calling him, but doing so only to hear his cold voice on the other end at his busy hours wasn't what I would do either.

Later at 5 PM, I got a call from Ino, it was the usual girl talk, and what to wear for the evening event. Actually it wasn't so much for the event, but more because Ino wanted to look her best for whom she claimed as her "future boyfriend", as delusional as it sounded. I didn't know if it was a joke or not, I hope it was. And of course she didn't forget to remind me about the "backstage plan".

_Why did I even suggest that stupid idea to her? I don't want to meet him and If I met him there…I wouldn't know what to do or what he would do. I can't let it happen! I haven't forgotten about him in 10 years, so there's no reason to believe that he has totally forgotten about me either. I could be completely wrong though and IF by some freaky coincidence, the Phantom turns out to be some other guy with red hair and 'ai' tattoo who uses sand magic, I would SO laugh at my own stupidity for jumping at conclusion so fast, but__…__ until then, I still have to be careful about this. _I cursed inwardly, but my inner self cheered in return.

Me and Ino chatted a little more before we said goodbye to each other. I hung up the phone only to realize that for the umpteenth time, I forgot to ask Ino his name. I knew I would find out eventually, but still…

_Well, there's no time to debate about this any longer. I should think about what to wear myself. I can't let him recognize me…if worst comes to worst, we met. _

I searched through my closet for clothes or something that would give me the best disguise to conceal either my face or hair. Not too long after, I came up with a military style hat and a pair of shades. Trying them on, I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled.

_These should be enough._

My hair was only a little above the shoulder, not too long, so the hat was large enough to cover a significant amount of the 'pink'. But there was no need to put on the shades and hat just yet…since I would only need them for "close" encounters, otherwise, they would only get in the way of enjoying the show.

The time moved fast and the clock had already hit 7.30 PM. A distant sound of a vehicle's engine could be heard outside. Casually, I walked out to the balcony and peeked down to the parking lot below. A metallic blue car can be seen entering the lot. It was Neji-san on the driver seat and a woman I had never seen on the passenger seat. Not too long after, the car stopped and Lee was the first one to jump out and Ino's irritated remark followed. I giggled at Lee's antics before quickly went back to my room to get my long coat and bag, and headed to the front door. I shouldn't let them wait, as it would take quite a while to reach the theater from here.

As I got ready, loud foot steps and noises can be heard from the corridor outside my apartment door. It was Ino's and Lee's voices. Ino seemed to try to argue about something with Lee…as usual. I opened the door before they even had time to ring the bell.

"Tada! I'm ready!" I smiled widely and stepped out. "You guys were so loud, I could hear you from "miles" away!" I said to my two friends while my hands quickly locked the door behind.

"It has nothing to do with me, it's HIM!" Disregarding the greeting entirely, Ino replied defensively, pointing at Lee and looked a little annoyed.

I didn't know what had happened between the two. I threw Lee a look expecting an answer only to find him staring back at me. We stared at each other blankly for a while.

"What…? Something on my face?" I asked dumbly.

"…" No response.

…Lee? What is it? You seem dazed…" I asked again, waving a hand in front of his face.

Lee blinked his eyes and shook his head wildly, meaning to say 'no'.

"Sakura-san, you look so _kawaii_ tonight!!! Please let me escort you to the car!!!" He quickly offered me a hand.

"That's enough, you baka!!" All of a sudden a fist connected with his jaw, sending him straight to the wall. "Heh! That served him right. Sakura, come!" With one swift movement, Ino grabbed my arm and pulled me to follow her, leaving Lee who was still twitching on the floor. Poor Lee, he seemed to always get on Ino's nerves.

We walked fast through the corridor, and when we reached the stairway, Ino yelled back to Lee, "Lee! If you don't move your ass fast, we're gonna leave you behind!!!"

Lee jumped up immediately and rushed headlong in our direction "Wait!!! You can't leave me behind!!!! Sakura-san! Wait for meeeee!!!"

… … … … … …

After that little incident, we were finally inside the car. Ino introduced me to the girl sitting on the front passenger seat next to Neji-san. Her name's TenTen, she's around my age and apparently she's Neji's girlfriend, or so Ino said.

It was a fun albeit extremely loud ride to the theater. TenTen really was a funny girl and humorous. Her and Lee told a lot of jokes that made us all burst out in laughter, even Neji-san had to hold his urge to laugh…as a result his 'laugh' came out weird and sounded like a fart…

"Neji-kun…you're so embarassing…" Tenten protested.

"A-am I? …hey…I wasn't farting…ok…? I was c…coughing…" Neji's nervous defensive replied followed.

"…nobody said you were farting." Tenten answered, her voice sounded like she strained to sound concerned.

"…All of you! S-Stop looking at me like that!!" Neji suddenly snapped, realizing that we were all forcing our faces to look serious.

"Neji-kun, you're so cute when you're angry like that…" Tenten's voice turned sensuous.

"I…I…" Neji looked away, back to the road. His face bright red.

Shrieks of laughter could be heard afterwards. I felt like some of the uneasiness and worries I felt all day since I woke up had ceased along with the laughs, and for once, I smiled at the fact that I might truly be able to enjoy the performance to the fullest. I looked up to see the moon shone bright above, showering Konoha with silvery light as our car rolled to the destination.

… … … … … …

We finally arrived just 5 minutes before the show officially starts. With all the activities and city lights, the theater district was extremely busy and jam-packed at this hour. It was filled with all kind of cars and vehicles, and I could see how the theater entrance was completely swarmed with people. Huge billboards were erected by the roadsides and attached to buildings everywhere displaying pictures and advertisement of the current popular plays in the city that were mostly Phantom of the Opera, but one billboard caught my eyes. It was the largest billboard portraying a young man with spiky red hair weared in disarrayed manner. His arms folded in front of his chest, standing dominantly and intimidatingly. Dressed in a classic nobleman dark red attire. He had a white mask covering half of his face. A red 'ai' tattoo carved on his left forehead, a complete contrast with his pale skin. His uncovered left eye had a dark ring surrounding it but did nothing to lessen his charming and dominant appearance. His lips forming a straight line, and he had an overall very distinct facial features. At that moment, the first thing that crossed my mind was…

**"To say that he's handsome…is an understatement…" **My inner self said in awe.

I nodded. For once, I had to agree with her…

I looked up at the billboard again, those deep and intense aquamarine eyes…I had seen those eyes before…

_It………really was him. _

Suddenly the uneasiness from earlier creeped up on me again. The billboard said "Sabaku no Gaara as The Phantom of the Opera".

_Sabaku no Gaara? Gaara of the Desert? What a strange name…_

…_Gaara…is that his name? _Completely unaware, I kept repeating the name under my breath over and over again until Ino broke my concentration.

"Sakura, what are you doing? C'mon…we have to go inside!" She and the others waved at me from near the theater entrance. I didn't realize I had separated myself from the group unknowingly. I quickly waved back at them, "I'm coming!"

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Phew…that's it for this chapter. I know this is slow paced but this time I'll update as soon as possible. Next chapter, the real Phantom of the Opera begins.


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